Monument to Juliusz Słowacki in Wrocław

The Monument to Juliusz Słowacki in Wrocław commemorates the Polish poet and is located in Juliusz Słowacki Park on Juliusz Słowacki Avenue, along which the Old Town Promenade also runs.

Model for the sculpture

The monument was made based on a model, which was a sculpture by Wacław Szymanowski from 1909. The sculpture later came to Wrocław, where it was purchased at the Wrocław branch of Desa. Because the copyright to the work had expired, it could be adapted for the construction of the monument; the adaptation was done by Andrzej Łętowski.

The road to construction

The first initiator of the idea to build the monument was, in 1967, Tadeusz Wojciechowski, but his appeal to the then authorities of Wrocław was ignored. The idea was revived in 1971 in the Society of Friends of Wrocław, a fundraising collection was organised, after which the matter went quiet. In 1981, on the initiative of the Society, the Civic Committee for the Construction of the Juliusz Słowacki Monument was established. In 1982 an attempt was made to select a design through a competition, but ultimately Szymanowski's sculpture was chosen as the model. In 1983 a full-scale plaster model was made, and in 1984 the production of the pedestal was completed and the finished statue was transported to Wrocław. The monument was unveiled by Professor Jan Dobraczyński, with representatives of the city authorities and residents taking part in the ceremony.

The statue's journey to Wrocław

The transport of the finished statue in 1984 took place in several stages: first it was transported by truck from the workshop to Gliwice Port, then by barge along the Oder Waterway to the City Port in Wrocław. In the city, the monument was driven around important places, including the Market Square next to the Monument to Aleksander Fredro and Solny Square, and pupils of the 9th Juliusz Słowacki General Secondary School welcomed it at the former Feliks Dzierżyński Square. Finally, the truck delivered the monument to its site, where it was placed on the finished pedestal.

Material and dimensions

The pedestal was made of Lower Silesian syenite, and the statue itself, about 2.5 metres high and weighing 1,400 kilograms, was cast in bronze.

Practical information

• Location: Wrocław, Stare Miasto (Old Town) district.
• Location: Juliusz Słowacki Park on Juliusz Słowacki Avenue, on the route of the Old Town Promenade.
• Nearby lie the Panorama of the Battle of Racławice, the National Museum in Wrocław and the Botanical Garden of the University of Wrocław.